Kiara Lodge — Hotel in Dihlabeng Local Municipality

Had an excellent much needed (delayed) mid year break. about 3 hours 30 min drive from Johannesburg, roads aren't bad getting there except for a 15km stretch where some bad potholes. on arrival staff were friendly and welcoming, we arrived around 11am, check in is only at 3pm but we allowed onto the resort to use the facilities and to store our meat and food products in the chalet to avoid it from spoiling while waiting for the room to be prepared. Also forgot our phone chargers but the staff at the restaurant charged our phones for us free of charge and felt safe and secure to leave phones at the restaurant. The shop sells a variety of grocery items like milk, cold drink, bread , the necessities, but a bit pricey and open till 8pm which is nice. The resort facilities are great, with great views, awesome heated pool which was never over crowded, my kids aged 4 and 8 enjoyed the indoor water slides tremendously which are for under 12 years old and were able to go about their business on their own without our help. however there isnt anyone monitoring and you do find older bigger kids on the slides doing abit more radical things which i found a bit dangerous to the younger ones, with pushing in lines as well. change rooms were clean and services regularly. There are cute little rabbits all over the resort in abundance, The resort I found to be very family friendly and kids were able to play freely and make friends easily which was great, Only downside experienced was the paddle boats which we were looking forward to was quite boring and just a large water pond with nothing to see and 2ndly the Rock climbing and gorge swing wasnt in operation for the week of our stay as we were told the operator was on training, which was extremely disappointing, there was no contingency plan in place and it was the only adult/teen entertainment, besides that and the hikes everything on the resort I would say is for 12 years old and younger. A HUUUUGE Plus is load shedding doesnt affect this place, they have solar power and generators for the load shedding kicks in, wifi , lights etc still on no impact . There is a great little place for pancakes about 15km before the resort, R7 a pancake and convenient store for all needs. Overall will visit the resort again, enjoyed...

Overall I was expecting more given that this is a 4 star resort, but it is definitely a beautiful place. Positives: the location is stunning, from our chalets veranda we had an amazing view that did not get stale even though we stayed a week. The chalet is furnished beautifully and modern. The beds, bedding and especially pillows are top class. The indoor heated pool, Jacuzzi etc is a novel treat. The facilities are well maintained and kept clean and tidy. Lots of available activities both on sight and in close proximity Negatives: there is only an indoor heated pool and the area does get very hot and sunny in summer, a additional normal outdoor pool would make sense. The restaurant and bar close quite early especially on Sunday and public holidays which is probably when they would be most in demand. The cleaning services do not operate on Sunday and public holidays, which wouldn't pose a problem except that you are only provided sufficient cleaning materials (black bag, dish washing liquid, toilet paper) to last one day. As a result you invariably run out when the cleaning service is not there and you have to buy extra at the very expensive kiosk. Not something I'd expect with a 4 star rating. Upon arrival, the main bathroom was very smelly and musty and took a few hours to air out. As you have to book in advance, our occupancy was not a surprise so the rooms should have been properly aired beforehand. They were busy with renovations which started quite early (7am) during the week, as a light sleeper, there was no way to sleep late, even when it was cold and sleeping late when on holiday is a key component to relaxation. There is a beautifully decorated @ease lounge only for over 21's, but it seems a bit of a wasted space. It has couches, TV's and a pool table, but no bar and the TV's were on the whole time, while music was also constantly played via overhead speakers and no way to change either. As a result, in the week that I was there, we seemed to be the only one's using it when we played pool. The accessories for the facilities seem limited, one white ball even though there's 2 pool tables...

Me and the wife decided we wanted to go to a place we have never been and that happened to be Clarens, Freestate. We found this spot via Facebook and it looked ideal, we had gotten then around 2:30 but check in time was only at 3 and we had to wait outside till we could go in along with all the other guests. I personally think that it’s a very late check in especially if you coming from far and all you want to do is get out the car. We survived nonetheless. The setting and surroundings are absolutely beautiful like I loved the mountains and open skin. The room we were in was oddly designed like they took big chalets and split them in two which is all fine, but the biggest problem with that is that our bed was right against the wall of the neighbors lounge and noise travels in a place like that. The place is like a kids heaven which I was very happy with just some small things in the play area which could be done to make it better. Like cleaning of LEGO blocks for example also the staff in the kids play room aren’t really helpful at all, just pure lack of supervision as the staff were quite young. Lots of things in there for all ages to do which was nice, the swimming pool area although nice is not very spacious pool maintenance also lacking as the water was never really clear more like misty. Out of the 5 days we were there the slides were only on 2 days, the other little splash floor fountain thing never went on at all. The restaurant that is there was touch and go, just poorly managed like inside was so old and felt dirty. Took nearly a hour to make 2 pizzas but the ribs the day before were really good.

Overall this place was good but not necessarily worth the price. Staff- average Views and surroundings- beautiful Room- average Facility’s- above...